Distribution and habitat of Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in Sonora, México

Abstract

The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) ranges from northeastern Argentina to southern Texas and southeastern Arizona. It is listed as Endangered in Mexico and the United States. Previous works on ocelots in Sonora, found them occupying different habitats, including tropical deciduous forest, thornscrub, desert grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak forest, avoiding the driest areas of the Sonoran Desert. The majority of our records are from camera traps, with indirect records from tracks. We analyzed images and videos of more than 100 camera traps used to monitor wildlife in ranches and natural protected areas of Sonora. Cameras were set at an altitude of 70 to 100 cm above ground, some were baited with a sardine-tomato mixture,
others were not, the majority were set in areas where other species were the main objective. We obtained 147 recent records from 2015 to 2021 and 28 previous records of ocelots in Sonora. Ocelots occur in the eastern half of Sonora, avoiding areas with less than 400 mm of annual rainfall in the eastern and northwestern Sonoran Desert. Ocelots have been recorded from 53 to 2,151 m elevation (av. 840 m). 21 images in nine localities show females with kittens, indicating breeding populations. In southern and east-central Sonora, ocelots live in tropical deciduous forest, and foothills thornscrub. At Maycoba east of Yécora, in Sierra Huachinera and in the Sky Islands Mountain ranges in northeastern Sonora, ocelots live in temperate vegetation, including desert grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak forest. Ocelots have been recorded in riparian habitats, transecting other vegetation types in the principal rivers of the state: Ríos Bavispe-Yaqui, Mayo, and Sonora, which drain the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Sky Island Region and southeastern
Arizona to the Gulf of California, providing dispersal corridors. Other medium sized rivers provide corridors for the dispersal of ocelots, such as Río Mátape in central Sonora, and Ríos Cocóspera, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz in the north. The nearest Sonoran populations to Arizona are in the Sierra El Alacrán and Río Cocóspera on Rancho El Aribabi.

Full text

THERYA, 2023, Vol. 14(2):245-252 DOI:10.12933/therya-23-3788 ISSN 2007-3364
Distribution and habitat of Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in Sonora,
México
Thomas R. Van DeVenDeR1, Juan Pablo Gallo-Reynoso2*, James C. RoRabauGh3, Juan maRio CiReTT-Galán1, noRa l. VillanueVa-GuTiéRRez1,
GuilleRmo molina-PaDilla4, lyDia lozano-anGulo4, J. manuel Galaz-Galaz5, saúl a. amaDoR-alCalá6, huGo silVa-KuRumiya7, F. isaías oChoa-
GuTiéRRez8, Jan sChiPPeR9, maRía De la Paz monTañez-aRmenTa7, GeRTRuDes yanes-aRVayo7, manuel luCiano aCeDo-aGuiRRe7, Rosa e. Jimenez-
malDonaDo10, RobeRT W. haRRill11, isai DaViD baRba-aCuña2, anD JaniTzio éGiDo-VillaRReal2
1 Greater Good Charities, 6262 N. Swan Rd., Tucson, Arizona 85718. Email: yecora4@comcast.net (TRV ), jmcirett@gmail.com (JMC-
G), nora_lilia_@hotmail.com (NLV-G).
2 Laboratorio de Ecosiología, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo A. C., Carretera al Varadero Nacional km. 6.6, Colo-
nia Las Playitas, CP. 85480 Guaymas. Sonora, México. Email: jpgallo@ciad.mx (JP-G), isai.barba@ciad.mx (IB-A), egido@ciad.mx (JE-V).
3 P.O. Box 31, Saint David, Arizona 85630. Email: jrorabaugh@hotmail.com (JCR).
4 Av. Juarez No. 14, CP. 84620 Cananea. Sonora, México. Email: guimopa@hotmail.com (GM-P).
5 Reserva Monte Mojino, Callejón DIF #6 Calle Palma Real Col. Las Palmas, CP. 85760 Álamos. Sonora, México. Email: lydia.lozano@
gmail.com (LL-A).
6 Primero Conservation, 305 Baron Circle, Pinetop, Arizona 85935. Email: memo_gatos@hotmail.com (JMG-G).
7 Naturalia, A.C., El Cajón 9, CP. 83249 Santa Fe. Hermosillo, Sonora, México. Email: saul_alcala@naturalia.org.mx (SA-A).
8 Universidad de la Sierra, Carretera Moctezuma-Cumpas Km 2.5, Cp. 84560 Moctezuma. Sonora, México. Email: hskurumiya@ya-
hoo.com (HSK), mariafriede@hotmail.com (MPM), gyanesa@yahoo.com (GY-A), acedoaguirremanuelluciano@gmail.com (MLA-A).
9 CONANP APFF Bavispe, Segunda Este Final and Avenida Sinaloa, Colonia Centro, CP. 84620 Cananea. Sonora, México. Email:
isaias_8agtz@hotmail.com (FIO-G).
10 Phoenix Zoo, 455 N. Galvin Parkway, Phoenix, Arizona 85008. Email: JSchipper@phoenixzoo.org (JS).
11 CONANP APFF Bavispe, Carretera Moctezuma-Huásabas Km 1, CP. 84560 Moctezuma. Sonora, México. Email: roselenjm@hotmail.com (REJ-M).
12 Prescott College, Álamos. Sonora, México. Email: harrill_icons@yahoo.com (RWH).
*Corresponding author: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1156-6037
The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) ranges from northeastern Argentina to southern Texas and southeastern Arizona. It is listed as Endangered in
Mexico and the United States. Previous works on ocelots in Sonora, found them occupying dierent habitats, including tropical deciduous forest,
thornscrub, desert grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak forest, avoiding the driest areas of the Sonoran Desert. The majority of our records are from
camera traps, with indirect records from tracks. We analyzed images and videos of more than 100 camera traps used to monitor wildlife in ranches and
natural protected areas of Sonora. Cameras were set at an altitude of 70 to 100 cm above ground, some were baited with a sardine-tomato mixture,
others were not, the majority were set in areas where other species were the main objective. We obtained 147 recent records from 2015 to 2021 and 28
previous records of ocelots in Sonora. Ocelots occur in the eastern half of Sonora, avoiding areas with less than 400 mm of annual rainfall in the eastern
and northwestern Sonoran Desert. Ocelots have been recorded from 53 to 2,151 m elevation (av. 840 m). 21 images in nine localities show females
with kittens, indicating breeding populations. In southern and east-central Sonora, ocelots live in tropical deciduous forest, and foothills thornscrub.
At Maycoba east of Yécora, in Sierra Huachinera and in the Sky Islands Mountain ranges in northeastern Sonora, ocelots live in temperate vegetation,
including desert grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak forest. Ocelots have been recorded in riparian habitats, transecting other vegetation types in
the principal rivers of the state: Ríos Bavispe-Yaqui, Mayo, and Sonora, which drain the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Sky Island Region and southeastern
Arizona to the Gulf of California, providing dispersal corridors. Other medium sized rivers provide corridors for the dispersal of ocelots, such as Río
Mátape in central Sonora, and Ríos Cocóspera, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz in the north. The nearest Sonoran populations to Arizona are in the Sierra El
Alacrán and Río Cocóspera on Rancho El Aribabi.
El ocelote (Leopardus pardalis) habita del noreste de Argentina hasta el sur de Texas y sureste de Arizona. Está clasicado como Especie en Peligro
de Extinción en México y en los Estados Unidos. Trabajos anteriores han registrado al ocelote en Sonora en varios hábitats, incluyendo selva baja cadu-
cifolia, matorral espinoso, pastizal de desierto, bosque de encino y bosque de pino-encino, evitando zonas áridas del Desierto Sonorense. La mayoría de
nuestros registros son de cámaras trampa y registros indirectos de rastros. Analizamos imágenes y videos de más de 100 cámaras trampa usadas para
monitorear fauna silvestre en ranchos y áreas naturales protegidas de Sonora. Las cámaras se pusieron de 70 a 100 cm sobre el suelo, algunas fueron
cebadas con sardina entomatada, otras no. La mayoría fueron puestas donde otras especies eran el objetivo principal. Obtuvimos 147 registros recientes
del 2015 al 2021 y otros 28 registros anteriores de ocelotes en Sonora. Los ocelotes ocurren en la mitad oriental de Sonora, evitando el oeste y noroeste
del Desierto Sonorense, zonas con menos de 400 mm de precipitación anual. Los ocelotes se registraron de los 53 a los 2,151 m de elevación (prom.
840m). 21 imágenes de nueve localidades muestran hembras con crías, indicativo de poblaciones reproductoras. En el sur y centro sureste de Sonora,
los ocelotes habitan en bosque tropical deciduo y en laderas de matorral espinoso. También habitan en vegetación templada, como pastizal desértico,
bosques de encino y bosques de pino-encino en Maycoba al este de Yécora, en Sierra de Huachinera y en las Islas del Cielo, Archipiélago Madrense al
noreste de Sonora. Los ocelotes se han registrado en hábitats riparios, en varios tipos de vegetación en los ríos: Ríos Bavispe-Yaqui, Mayo, y Sonora, que
drenan la Sierra Madre Occidental, las Islas del Cielo de Sonora y sureste de Arizona hacia el Golfo de California, proveyendo corredores para la dispersión.
Otros ríos de tamaño mediano proveen corredores para la dispersión, como el Río Mátape al centro de Sonora, y los Ríos Cocóspera, San Pedro, y Santa
Cruz al norte. La población más cercana a Arizona está en la Sierra el Alacrán y el Río Cocóspera en el Rancho El Aribabi.
Keywords: Arizona; Carnivore; distribution; Sonora; vegetation types.
© 2023 Asociación Mexicana de Mastozoología,www.mastozoologiamexicana.org

246 THERYA Vol. 14 (2): 245-252
OCELOT DISTRIBUTION IN SONORA
Introduction
The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is a medium-sized tropical
feline that ranges from northeastern Argentina, northern
Paraguay, and southern Brazil north to southern Texas and
northwest to southeastern Arizona (Grigione et al. 2007;
Paviolo et al. 2015; Rorabaugh et al. 2020; Amador-Alcala
et al. 2022). Ocelots in Sonora have been found in dier-
ent habitats, including tropical deciduous forest, thorn-
scrub, desert grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak forest,
avoiding the driest areas in the Sonoran Desert (Brown and
López-González 2001; López-González et al. 2003; Rora-
baugh et al. 2020; Amador-Alcala et al. 2022). The state
has a diverse physiography, from the heights of the Sierra
Madre Occidental (SMO) in eastern Sonora and the isolated
mountains in northeastern Sonora westward to the west-
ern lowlands and the Gulf of California (Castillo-Gámez et
al. 2010). The SMO reaches its northern limit in the Sierra
de Huachinera in northeastern Sonora (30.25° N). There are
55 isolated Island Mountain ranges or complexes of several
ranges (González-León 2010) connected by oak woodland
corridors in the Madrean Archipelago or Sky Island Region
in northeastern Sonora between the SMO and the Mogol-
lon Rim in central Arizona (Van Devender et al. 2013a).
These Sky Islands crowned with oak woodland or pine-oak
forest emerge from lowland ‘seas’ or inter-montane valleys
with desert grassland, tropical deciduous forest (Figures 1
A and B), or foothills thornscrub (Figures 1 C and D). The
principal rivers of the state, including the Ríos Bavispe and
Río Aros which at their junction forms the Río Yaqui, which
together with Río Mayo, drain the Sierra Madre Occidental;
Río Sonora drains the Sky Island Region and southeastern
Arizona tributaries. All these rivers are dispersal corridors
through much of Sonora to the Gulf of California. The pri-
mary river corridors for the northward dispersal of ocelots
are the Río Bavispe in the east, the Río Sonora in west, the
Ríos Cocóspera, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz near the Arizona
border, the Río Cuchujaqui (auent of the Rio El Fuerte) is
a corridor between the southern areas of Sonora and the
SMO. In Sonora this tropical cat lives in habitats that range
from tropical in the southern to temperate in the eastern
and northeastern parts of the state.
The ocelot is listed as a least concern species by the
IUCN due to its wide distribution in America (Paviolo et
al. 2015); as an endangered species in the United States
(US Fish and Wildlife Service 2022. https://ecos.fws.gov/
ecp/species/4474) due to its restricted distribution. In
Mexico, it is also listed as endangered “En Peligro” status
under NOM-059-ECOL-2010, the Mexican endangered spe-
cies law (López-González et al. 2003; Castillo-Gámez et al.
2010; Avila-Villegas and Lamberton-Moreno 2013; Gómez-
Ramírez et al. 2017). Brown and López-González (2001)
and López-González et al. (2003) reported ocelots from 28
localities in Sonora. Ocelots are rare in Arizona, with only
six individuals seen between 2009 and 2021 (Culver 2016;
Sabra Tonn, pers. comm. 2018). Apparently occasional oce-
lots reach Arizona from the Sonoran populations.
Interest in the current distribution and abundance of
ocelots in Sonora was stimulated by the study of López-
González et al. (2003) that presented a model of the oce-
lot distribution in Sonora, enhancing the understanding
of their distribution in a variety of dierent habitats and
relationship with the vegetation. The Project WILDCAT
(PW) wildlife camera study in the lower Rio Bavispe Valley
south of Granados (Figure 1D) just north of the Northern
Jaguar Reserve (Gómez-Ramírez et al. 2017) and south of
Nácori Chico yielded additional information on the general
distribution of ocelots in Sonora. From 2015 to 2021, oce-
lots were photographed 180 times at 21 localities on six PW
ranches. From 2016 to 2021, ocelots were photographed in
Greater Good Charities’ (GGC) Madrean Discovery Expedi-
tion Wildlife project at 20 localities in the Sierras Alacrán,
Aurora, Batamote, Huachinera, and Pajarito, and Rancho
Chairababi near Cucurpe, Ranchos Pino Seco and San Man-
uel near Nacozari de García, and Ranchos Peñascal and Las
Playitas near Bacoachi. Other projects that are currently
going on in several areas of Sonora and have also provided
records of ocelots as in the upper Bavispe, in Sierra de Hua-
chinera and near Bacanora.
López-González et al. (2003) reported on a kitten from
near Rosario de Tesopaco in southern Sonora. A female
with a kitten was photographed on Rancho El Aribabi in
February 2011 (Avila-Villegas and Lamberton-Moreno
2013; Rorabaugh et al. 2020). Here we report females with
kittens photographed during Project WILDCAT on Rancho
Carrizal (29.651° N) in January 2018 and three times in two
localities on Pueblo Viejo (29.628° N) in November 2016 and
May and November 2018 (Figure 4D). Breeding likely also
occurs in the Nácori Chico area (29.419 to 29.479° N) as 21
images in nine widely spaced localities is too many for wan-
dering individuals. Our goals are to summarize the distri-
bution of ocelots in Sonora and analyze the relationships
of vegetation type, the amount of rainfall, and altitude on
distribution.
Previous mammal studies mention ocelots in Sonora. Oce-
lots are not specically mentioned in Ignaz Pfeerkorn’s
(2008) descriptive accounts of Sonora around 1756 to 1767
but were somehow mixed in with the description of bobcats
(Lynx rufus). Burt (1938) reported ocelots at Güirocoba, south
of Álamos. William Caire’s 1978 doctoral dissertation at the
University of New Mexico on “The Distribution and Zooge-
ography of Mammals of Sonora, Mexico” mentions only two
ocelot specimens from southern Sonora but gives a map of
its probable distribution that reaches Arizona. His state of
Sonora mammal checklist (Caire 1997) and doctoral disserta-
tion publication (Caire 2019) also mentioned those records. A
list of mammals in Schwalbe and Lowe (2000) on the amphib-
ian and reptiles of the Sierra de Álamos region in southern
Sonora included ocelots. Several ocelot records are men-
tioned in Brown and López-González (2001). López-González
et al. (2003) reported early accounts of hunting of ocelots in
Sonora and other records of the species, these authors sum-
marized the distribution of ocelots in Sonora and included a

www.mastozoologiamexicana.org 247
Van Devender et al.
Genetic Algorithm for Rule Set Production (GARP) model of
their distribution. Ceballos and Oliva (2005) presented lim-
ited descriptions of Sonoran mammal species, including the
distribution of ocelots. Castillo-Gámez et al. (2010) presented
an updated ocelot distribution in Sonora mostly based on
López-González et al. (2003) with several new records. Avila-
Villegas and Lamberton-Moreno (2013) documented ocelots
in oak woodland at Rancho El Aribabi, including the north-
ernmost breeding population in Sonora. Coronel-Arellano
et al. (2016) reported a camera image of an ocelot from the
Sierra Los Ajos. Gómez-Ramírez et al. (2017) documented 33
individual ocelots on the Northern Jaguar Reserve and calcu-
lated their survival and density. Rorabaugh et al. (2020) on
Rancho El Aribabi and Amador-Alcala et al. (2022) on North-
ern Jaguar Reserve discussed the ecology of ocelots, based
on photographs obtained with camera traps.
Materials and methods
We analyzed 149 recent records of Sonoran ocelots com-
piled from wildlife camera and track studies in Sonora,
including the Reserva Monte Mojino near Álamos (Figure
1B); the Sierra de Álamos; in the lower Río Bavispe Valley
(Project WILDCAT) and south of Nácori Chico (Figure 1E);
Madrean Discovery Expedition Wildlife cameras in the Sier-
ras Alacrán (Figure 2B), Aurora, Batamote, Huachinera, and
Pajarito (Figure 1F); Ranchos Peñascal and Las Playitas near
Bacoachi, Ranchos Pino Seco and San Manuel near Nacozari
de García, and Rancho Chairababi near Cucurpe; Universi-
dad de la Sierra study areas near Moctezuma; CIAD-Guay-
mas study at Rancho Bamochi, Rancho Agua Caliente at
Huachinera, Rancho Teiserobabi, and Rancho La Joya near
Bacanora; other ranchos near Ures; near Santa Ana west
of Yécora; Sierras Los Ajos Buenos Aires, and La Madera in
APFF Bavispe; Rancho El Aribabi (Figure 2A) and the Río
Cocóspera in Sierra Azul; and Cajón Bonito (Figure 2C) near
the Arizona border. No camera traps were set up for oce-
lot distribution in areas where ocelots have never been
reported like the dry western part of Sonora with a Sonoran
desertscrub vegetation i. e. Hermosillo, Caborca, San Luis
Río Colorado or at Desierto de Altar.
Previous 28 ocelot records in Brown and López-González
(2001) and López-González et al. (2003) were added to the
Madrean Archipelago Biodiversity Assessment (MABA)
database (accessible in the Madrean Discovery Expeditions
[MDE] database). They were also used for this study. All the
recent ocelot records and images in the present study are
publicly available online in the MDE database (madrean-
discovery.org). The Bavispe APFF monitoring records are
in the Bavispe Flora and Fauna Protected Area database
(accessible in the MDE database). And a single record from
UNISIERRA database (http://csvcoll.org/portal/collections/
harvestparams.php).
Camera traps of dierent make were set either to take
still photographs or in video mode; the majority of the cam-
eras were set at an altitude of 70 to 100 cm, above ground,
some of them were baited with a sardine-tomato mixture,
Figure 1. Tropical ocelot habitats in Sonora. A. Tropical deciduous forest along the Río Cuchujaqui east of Álamos. January 1984 (Photo T. R. Van Devender). B. Tropical deciduous
forest near Álamos. Summer 1991. Hecho cacti (Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum) are prominent (Photo M. A. Dimmitt). C. Foothills thornscrub near Curea. September 1998. Organ pipe
cacti/pitahaya (Stenocereus thurberi) are common (Photo T. R. Van Devender). D. Foothills thornscrub above the Río Bavispe on Rancho Pueblo Viejo east of Divisaderos. November 2016
(Photo T. R. Van Devender). E. J. M. Galaz-Galaz checking wildlife camera in foothills thornscrub on Rancho Pueblo Viejo. November 2016 (Photo A. L. Reina-Guerrero). F. Foothills thorn-
scrub at Puerta del Sol, Sierra Pajarito east of Ures. November 2018. Visible on lower right are an organ pipe cactus and a sh poison tree/palo blanco (Piscidia mollis gray leaves) (Photo
N. L. Villanueva-Gutiérrez).

248 THERYA Vol. 14 (2): 245-252
OCELOT DISTRIBUTION IN SONORA
some others were not baited and set in areas where other
species were the objective, i. e. neotropical otters (Lontra
longicaudis) in riparian habitats (Gallo-Reynoso et al. 2019).
More than 100 places were used for the monitoring of oce-
lots, each site had a camera trap (to complete that number
several cameras were moved to dierent locations along
the study time), camera traps were set for the record of mul-
tiple species in most of the ranches and natural protected
areas in which they were used for monitoring wildlife, oce-
lot records were extracted from those monitoring eorts.
We analyzed the frequency of observations eect of pre-
cipitation, vegetation type, and altitude on the distribution
of L. pardalis in Sonora, the data set used for this analyzes
comprised 175 out of 177 records that were complete hav-
ing the four variables, of which we removed two duplicated
records (curtailing the eect of multiple records produced by
any camera trap). Original data were obtained from GPS loca-
tion records with notes on the surrounding vegetation type
in each one of the records. Precipitation was obtained from
Gallo-Reynoso et al. (2018) armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)
distribution in Sonora by superposing location data of Oce-
lots on the precipitation/ vegetation type SIG data of Sonora.
Results
The distribution of ocelot in Sonora is complex as shown by
the distribution of the 175 records considered herein (Fig-
ure 3). These records represent ve years (2015 to 2021) of
camera trap studies, and 28 previous records of ocelots in
Sonora (Brown and López-González 2001; López-González
et al. 2003). Ocelots occur in the eastern half of Sonora, gen-
erally avoiding lower areas with less than 400 mm of annual
rainfall and the arid Sonoran Desert, therefore records were
found in the southeastern, central, and northeastern part of
the state. There are 72 municipalities in Sonora, and ocelots
have been documented in 28 of them: Agua Prieta, Álamos,
Arizpe, Bacadéhuachi, Bacanora, Bacoachi, Cajeme, Cana-
nea, Cucurpe, Cumpas, Divisaderos, Fronteras, Granados,
Huachinera, Huásabas, Ímuris, Moctezuma, Nácori Chico,
Nacozari de García, Navojoa, Quiriego, Rosario de Tesopaco,
Sahuaripa, San Pedro de la Cueva, Soyopa, Suaqui Grande,
Tepache, Ures, and Yécora. Ocelots are likely present in
another 22 municipalities in southern and eastern Sonora.
Ocelot distribution in the study area were obtained on
mean altitude above sea level (m) of 840 m (± 458 m, range:
53 to 2,151 m), its modal distribution was 1,326 m, although
denoting some preference for higher areas over lower ones
with 93 (53.1 %) occurrences in areas higher than 1,000 m,
and with 82 (46.9 %) occurrences below 1,000 m. Their dis-
tribution on Sonora is aected by the amount of rainfall in
the dierent areas of central and eastern Sonora, preferring
areas with a mean of 515 mm of rain (± 107 mm, range: 400
to 800 mm), modal distribution was found at 500 mm of
rain. No record was obtained in less than 400 mm of rain in
the area occupied by Sonoran desertscrub (Figure 3). The
areas preferentially occupied by ocelots in Sonora had dif-
ferent frequencies of occurrence related to the amount of
rain (mm), 43 occurrences (24.6 %) between 400 to 499 mm
of rain; 81 occurrences (46.3 %) between 500 to 599 mm
of rain; 21 occurrences (12 %) between 600 to 699 mm of
rain; 25 occurrences (14.3 %) between 700 to 799 mm of
rain; there were only 5 occurrences (2.8 %) above 800 mm
of rain, there were no records below 400 mm of rain.
Ocelots occur in tropical deciduous forest and foothills
thornscrub in the southern Sonora (Figure 1 B and C) and
desert grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak forest in the
east and northeast (Figure 2 B). The vegetation in which
Ocelots occurred preferentially was Sierra Madrean wood-
lands and forests with 86 (49.1 %) occurrences, followed by
foothills thornscrub with 47 (26.9 %) occurrences, tropical
deciduous forest with 32 (18.3 %), grasslands / Chihuahuan
desertscrub with 7 (4 %) occurrences and by Sonoran des-
ertscrub with 3 (1.7 %) occurrences (Figure 1F).
Ocelots are commonly photographed in foothills thorn-
scrub habitats at localities in the lower Río Bavispe Valley
(Figure 1 A, B and D). Ocelots are also photographed with
regularity as far north as Rancho El Aribabi in the Sierra Azul
in oak woodland (Figure 2 A and B; Figure 4 E and F) and
along the Río Cocóspera (30.856° N) in riparian habitats.
Additionally, ocelots shift from tropical lowland habitats
into upland desert grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak
forest north of the Neotropics. Ocelots have been recorded
from 53 to 2,151 m (average 840 m) in Sonora but are not
expected to be found near sea level in the southern coastal
areas. Ocelots probably use riparian habitats to disperse
between areas and vegetation types.
Figure 2. Temperate ocelot habitats in Sonora. A. Rocky stream canyon in oak
woodland. Arroyo Las Palomas, Rancho El Aribabi, Sierra Azul, east-northeast of Ímuris.
October 2015 (Photo J. C. Rorabaugh). B. Oak woodland dominated by Arizona white
and Mexican blue oaks (Quercus arizonica, Q. oblongifolia). Sierra Alacrán southeast of
Cananea. September 2018 (Photo A. L. Reina-Guerrero). C. Cottonwood-willow (Populus
fremontii-Salix spp.) riparian deciduous forest, desert grassland on slopes. Cajón Bonito,
Rancho los Ojos Calientes east of Agua Prieta. August 2007 (Photo T. R. Van Devender).
D. Cottonwood-willow riparian gallery forest along Río Santa Cruz in desert grassland.
Aerial view to the north of Paseo del Cajón northeast of San Lázaro. April 2019. Only 18
km south of the border, this is a likely corridor for ocelots to the Huachuca Mountains in
Arizona (Photo L. Gutiérrez, NortePhoto, Inc).

www.mastozoologiamexicana.org 249
Van Devender et al.
Comparison by frequency analysis shows that
precipitation above 400 mm (n = 132) explained the 75.4%
of the presence of Ocelots in Sonora. Vegetation type
(Sierramadrean woodlands and forests (n = 86) explained
the 49 %. Elevation above 800 m (n = 109) explained
the 62.3 % of occurrences. Therefore, a combination
of precipitation-elevation-vegetation type were the
variables that dened the presence and distribution of
Ocelots in Sonora (Figure5). Unaccounted variables such
as seasonality might also be important for the presence
and distribution of Ocelots in Sonora but was not analyzed
in this study.
Discussion
The distribution of ocelot records is much wider than
expected and occupies more geographic area than pre-
dicted by the GARP analysis in López-González et al. (2003),
mostly based on tropical deciduous forest and thornscrub.
Our records still fall inside the predicted area in their south-
ern distribution but extend in other regions not reported
previously that include several vegetation types such as
desert grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak forest to the
north and northeast. The distribution of ocelots in Sonora
follows the distribution of precipitation, similar to what
has been demonstrated with armadillos in Sonora (Gallo-
Reynoso et al. 2018).
There are still some gaps in their distribution in more
remote areas in Sonora, where it needs to develop eld
surveys and assessment with the use of wildlife cameras.
Also, ocelots are expected to occur in tropical deciduous
forest in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental from
the Sinaloa border north through the Álamos area north to
Yécora. Ocelots are also likely to occur in foothills thorn-
scrub along the Río Yaqui from Ónavas to Tónichi north to
San Felipe de la Cueva, Sahuaripa, and Mátape. They are
also expected in foothills thornscrub in the Río Sonora
Valley from the Sierra Aurora north to the Sierras Aconchi
and Los Locos and to the Rancho El Charababi area just
south of the Sierra Azul. To the west, they are likely to be
in foothills thornscrub in the Sierra Bacatete east of Guay-
mas on Yaqui First Nation land, Sierra El Aguaje corridor to
Sierra Libre north of Guaymas where an intermittent creek
bears the name of “El Ocelote”, between Guaymas and Her-
mosillo. Considering the records of ocelots in Arizona, they
likely also occur in Sonora close to the Arizona border in
the Sierras Las Avispas, Chivato, Pinito, and San Antonio.
Note that our report does not include recent records from
Figure 3. Distribution of ocelot records in Sonora and their occurrence in dierent
vegetation types. Areas with a precipitation less than 400 mm are not occupied by oce-
lots, unless they occupy riparian habitats adjacent to canyons and rivers. Inter-montane
valleys and riparian habitats are widely used for ocelot dispersal corridors.
Figure 4. Ocelot images at dierent places. A. Arroyo Las Palomas 28 km ENE Ímuris November 2015 (Photo by J. C. Rorabaugh). B. Rancho Hoyo, Arroyo Bacadéhuachi east of Di-
visaderos. February 2016 (Photo by J. M. Galaz-Galaz). C. Puerta del Sol, Sierra Pajarito east of Ures, April 2019 (Photo by J. M. Cirett-Galván). D. Rancho Los Pescados south-southeast of
Nácori Chico, August 2018 (Photo by J. M. Galaz-Galaz). E. Female with kitten. Pozo del Indio, Rancho Pueblo Viejo, November 2015 (Photo by J. M. Galaz-Galaz).

250 THERYA Vol. 14 (2): 245-252
OCELOT DISTRIBUTION IN SONORA
the Northern Jaguar Reserve, although Gómez-Ramírez et
al. (2017) reported 381 wildlife camera images of which 33
were individually identied ocelots during 2010-2012, and
Amador-Alcalá et al. (2022) reported ocelot abundance and
home range based in 54 camera traps stations, obtaining
135 photographic records of which 17 were individually
identied ocelots during 2015.
Ocelots are present in the northernmost area of the
SMO in the Sierra Huachinera. There is an observation of an
individual in the SMO from the Río Maycoba east of Yécora
near the Chihuahua border. Probably ocelots use riparian
corridors to reach higher areas of the Sierra Madre Occiden-
tal, similar to a nine-banded armadillo (D. novemcinctus)
record from Los Pilares in a nearby locality (Gallo-Reynoso
et al. 2018) likely reached the area from tropical vegetation
in the Río Mayo drainage near Moris, Chihuahua (36 km to
the southeast), a route likely followed by ocelots. Wildlife
camera-trap surveys in pine-oak forest in the Mesa Tres
Ríos area in Sonora near the Chihuahua border were carried
out in 2018 but did not nd ocelots. López-González et al.
(2015) added ocelots to the fauna of the SMO in Chihuahua
based on a wildlife camera study on oak woodland east of
Nuevo Casas Grandes. The extent of the ocelot distribu-
tion in the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) needs further
detailed study.
Biogeography. Four dierent biotic provinces merge in
the Madrean Archipelago in northeastern Sonora and south-
eastern Arizona – the Rocky Mountains, California Mediter-
ranean, Great Plains/Chihuahuan Desert, and Sierra Madre
Occidental, and there is also the transition zone between
the Nearctic, and Neotropical Biogeographic regions (Van
Devender et al. 2013a). Although the Tropic of Cancer
(23.43° N) just north of Mazatlán, Sinaloa is often considered
the northern limit of the New World Tropics, tropical decidu-
ous forest extends 680 km to the northwest to the Sierra
San Javier, Sonora (28.62° N; Van Devender et al. 2013a). The
transition between the Neotropical and Nearctic provinces
starts in Sonora. In southern Sonora, coastal thornscrub is
transitional between tropical deciduous forest (Figure 1,
A and B) and Sonoran desertscrub, and in central Sonora
foothills thornscrub (Figure 1, C and D) is between Sonoran
desertscrub and oak woodland. The northernmost thorn-
scrub in Sonora is found near Arizpe in the Río Sonora Val-
ley (30.35° N) and at Presa La Angostura on the Río Bavispe
(30.44° N; Van Devender et al. 2013b). At its northern edge
where thornscrub transitions into desert grassland, it is lim-
ited by freezing temperatures during fall - winter.
The distribution of ocelot in Sonora reects the eect
of precipitation and vegetation types mentioned above
but does not occur in desertscrub in the Sonoran Desert.
In Sonora, ocelots occur in areas with 400 mm or greater
annual precipitation, unless they are in riparian habitats
adjacent to canyons and rivers. Inter-montane valleys in this
precipitation range regardless of their vegetation type are
also occupied by ocelots, meaning that these riparian habi-
tats are widely used for ocelot dispersal (Figure 2 C and D).
Many tropical species reach their northern distribu-
tional limits in desert grassland and oak woodland in
northern Sonora or southern Arizona (Van Devender et
al. 1994). Examples include Neotropical reptiles such as
vine snake/bejuquillo (Oxybelis aeneus), and thornscrub
hooknose snake (Gyalopion quadrangulare); and Neotrop-
ical plants such as coralbean/chilicote (Erythrina abelli-
formis), and kidneywood/palo dulce (Eysenhardtia ortho-
carpa). The latitudinal wedge eect caused by increasing
aridity at lower elevations and colder temperatures at
higher elevations is a general biogeographic pattern in
the western half of the continent. Neotropical otter (Lon-
tra longicaudis; Gallo-Reynoso et al. 2019), Jaguar (Pan-
thera onca), ocelot (L. pardalis), coati/cholugo (Nasua nar-
ica), collared peccary/ cochi jabalí (Pecari tajacu), Sonoran
possum/ tlacuache (Didelphis virginiana californica; Babb
et al. 2004) and nine-banded armadillo D. novemcinctus
(Gallo-Reynoso et al. 2018) are Sonoran mammals that t
this pattern.
Foothills thornscrub in the Granados-Divisaderos area in
the lower Río Bavispe Valley and the Bacadéhuachi-Nácori
Chico area to the east, and the Río Sonora to the west are
likely the sources for ocelots dispersing to the mountains
of northern Sonora e. g., Sierras Huachinera, Buenos Aires,
de Los Ajos, and Azul. From these areas, ocelots disperse
into some areas of southeastern Arizona, including the
Huachuca, Pajaritos, Santa Rita, and Whetstone Mountains
(Culver 2016).
Figure 5. Inuence of the vegetation type, rainfall, and elevation on the distribu-
tion frequency of Leopardus pardalis in Sonora. Vegetation types: Sierramadrean forests
with 86 occurrences (49.1 %), Sonoran Thornscrub and desertscrub (Chihuahuan and So-
noran) with 57 occurrences (32.6 %), and tropical deciduous forest with 32 occurrences
(18.3 %) were the type of vegetation more frequented by ocelots. Precipitation above 400
mm accounted for 132 occurrences (75.4 %), and 43 records in precipitation between 300
to 400 mm (24.6 %). Elevations from 800 to 2,200 m accounted for 109 records (62.3 %),
52 occurrences in elevations between 400 to 800 m (29.7 %) and 14 records in elevations
less than 400 m (8 %).

www.mastozoologiamexicana.org 251
Van Devender et al.
One important result of this study is the documentation
of the use of riparian habitats by ocelots. River corridors
for northward dispersal of ocelots are likely the Río Bavispe
in the east, the Río Sonora in the west, the Río Mátape in
the center, the Río Mayo and Río Cuchujaqui in the south,
and Ríos Cocóspera, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz (Figure 2 D)
near the Arizona border. However, considering that oce-
lots primarily live in tropical habitats in southern Sonora,
habitat connectivity is more important than river corridors.
They will likely thrive unless there is drastic habitat loss or
unavailable prey. In northeastern Sonora where foothills
thornscrub merges into desert grassland and ocelots move
up into woodlands, river corridors are likely more impor-
tant for their dispersal.
Near the Arizona border, ocelots are found in oak wood-
land in the Sierras Alacrán, Avispas, and Azul but were not
found in the Sierra Chivato close to the border with Arizona,
USA. In 1964, Sewell Goodwin killed an ocelot at 2,583 m
elevation in a pine tree on the summit of Pat Scott Peak
in the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona (Brown and López-
González 2001). Recently, an ocelot was seen in the Hua-
chuca Mountains in Arizona (A. Niels, pers. comm, 2021), it
is probable that the ocelot dispersed from Sierra Chivato
35 km southwest of where the southern end of the Hua-
chuca Mountains reaches the border. It is also possible
that ocelots use the Río Santa Cruz as a dispersal corridor
north into the San Rafael Valley or at Sierra El Pinito (not yet
studied with camera-traps), near there are the Patagonia
Mountains, a northern extension of the Sierra El Pinito and
just south of the Santa Rita Mountains. The Canelo Hills at
the north end of the San Rafael Valley is a woodland cor-
ridor between the Patagonia Mountains and the Huachuca
Mountains to the east used by ocelots. The ocelot popu-
lation in the Rancho Las Playitas area near Bacoachi, indi-
cates that ocelots also live in desert grassland in the valley
between the Sierra Azul and the Arizona mountains.
This remarkable connectivity of ocelot habitat depend-
ing on factors such as precipitation, vegetation type and
elevation should be protected as corridors for the benet
of ocelots and other tropical Mexican endangered species
such as jaguar (P. onca) that as well as ocelots reach their
northern distribution limits in America in Sonora and/or
southern Arizona.
T. R. Van Devender. Concept, data acquisition, compi-
lation, and analyses, writing, reviewing, eld work, fund
acquisition. J. P. Gallo-Reynoso. Concept, writing, review-
ing, data acquisition, compilation and analyses, mapping,
eld work, fund acquisition. J. C. Rorabaugh, data contribu-
tion and analyses, eld work, reviewing. J. M. Cirett-Galán.
N. L. Villanueva-Gutiérrez. G. Molina-Padilla. L. Lozano-
Angulo. J. M. Galaz-Galaz. S. A. Amador-Alcalá. H. Silva-
Kurumiya. F. I. Ochoa-Gutiérrez. J Schipper. M. de la P. Mon-
tañez-Armenta. G. Yanes-Arvayo. M. L. Acedo-Aguirre. R. E.
Jimenez-Maldonado. R. W. Harrill, I. D. Barba-Acuña, and J.
Égido-Villarreal, participated in eldwork, camera trap set-
tings, photo/video selection and data compilation.
Acknowledgments
We thank S. Avila and J. Moreno for providing records
for the MDE database from Sky Island Alliance’s Cuatro
Gatos Project. A. Blanco and E. Ballesteros provided oce-
lot records from el Chilicote in the Sierra Los Ajos and the
Sierra Alacrán. J. Abel-Salazar greatly facilitated the MDE
wildlife camera study on the Ranchos Las Playitas and
Peñascal. A. Gardea provided the observation from east of
Yécora. We thank Greater Good Charities for their programs
documenting the biodiversity of Sonora. We thank Colum-
bus Zoo and Aquarium for its generous support of Project
WILDCAT. Project WILDCAT images are jointly copyrighted
by Greater Good Charities and Primero Conservation. We
thank A. L. Reina-Guerrero for her eldwork collaboration
for more than two decades.
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Associated editor: Jesús Fernández
Submitted: August 25, 2021; Reviewed: September 14, 2021
Accepted: February 16, 2023; Published on line: March 27, 2023